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Tim from the US (PolyglotPal) on YouTube | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Pisces Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4412 days ago 143 posts - 284 votes  Speaks: English*, Finnish*, French, SwedishC1, Esperanto Studies: German, Spanish, Russian | Message 129 of 204 14 May 2012 at 4:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
What this discussion brings up is that for the media, one of the most important things about language learning is apparently speed, when compared to other subjects. I think this is maybe because most people see grammar and vocabulary learning as onerous things that need to be got out of the way as quickly as possible. Since many people don't think that the language learning process is interesting or valuable in itself, they prioritize speed. They also seem to think that there is a point at which one is 'done' learning a language. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6658 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 130 of 204 14 May 2012 at 4:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
I missed this in the thread, but some people just have voracious appetite for languages, and the less common the language, the tastier. :-) For some people, learning languages is like reading a good book: it's not for any practical reason, but just because it's a stimulating challenge; the language is an end unto itself. 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6699 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 131 of 204 14 May 2012 at 6:20pm | IP Logged | |||||
Exactly, imagine being able to converse like this (~A2) in a couple of languages. No matter how basic, it's still a much higher level than those who don't know anything at all. If the day had more than 24 hours, I'd be an A2 speaker of more languages than now. :)
I agree, focusing on things which are important "now" (especially if we have the time). Later on, it might be difficult to learn the skills with the same "ease", and if we have good approach now, we probably won't have to study as much later on. Some skills are more important in the beginning, so to speak. Listening to the target language is very important for the beginner to get accustomed to how the language sounds. The intermediate student already knows that (and can focus on other things!). We've all read about intense periods of study, listening-reading and so on. How many of us are willing to devote several hours everyday in the inital stages? Until we've tried it, we can't really say that it's fruitless. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6493 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 132 of 204 15 May 2012 at 12:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Several comments have mentioned the role of the media. And they certainly have a dubious role. When I watch TV it strikes me how much that stupid competition mentality has destroyed. It is not enough to conceive an ambitious plan and carry it through yourself with a camera following the whole process - oh no, now you have to have two teams who get a task assigned and have to fight at each other's throttles to win a competition, and it's high fives and screaming and dollars galore for the winner, while the loser is exposed as a complete failure. And to add to the misery the whole thing is supervised from above by some person who doesn't know anything and can't contribute anything to the projects except telling jokes. And the more hysterical the whole thing can be made, the better.
The infortunate thing is that this mentality is contagious. Edited by Iversen on 15 May 2012 at 12:38pm 8 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| m32amir Heptaglot Groupie Canada youtube.com/user/m32Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5440 days ago 53 posts - 184 votes Speaks: Kazakh, Russian*, English, French, Spanish, German, Italian Studies: Turkish, Mandarin | Message 133 of 204 25 June 2012 at 8:25am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi all :-)
I just wanted to let everyone know that Tim has uploaded a new video :-) New multilingual video Enjoy 7 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4618 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 134 of 204 26 June 2012 at 12:35am | IP Logged | |||||
Competition is destructive. Co-operation is constructive. . . Or is that too simplistic? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jappy58 Bilingual Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 4428 days ago 200 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Guarani*, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Maghribi), Arabic (Written), French, English, Persian, Quechua, Portuguese Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 135 of 204 29 June 2012 at 1:19am | IP Logged | |||||
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I've watched some of his Arabic and Persian videos and must say that he does have a good command of his speaking abilities. I'm not here to judge him, but I strongly admire his passion for languages. :)
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6493 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 136 of 204 29 June 2012 at 11:15am | IP Logged | |||||
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About competition: a mild degree of competition may be beneficial even in language learning, but unlike most sports there isn't a clear success criterion and there aren't equal conditions for all competitors in language learning. And personally I even detest seeing language learning made into a sport with just one winner and thousands or even millions of losers - especially if the person in question didn't claim to be the best in the world or similar things. If you want a formal competition then it should at least be organized with clear criteria and a formal procedure like the two competitions which Erard mentions in his book about hyperglots (although dead and artificial language should have been admitted if they are studied and learnt as other languages - but that's a detail).
Quite generally I loath hysteria in all its forms, and even though the ugly spirit with narrow timelimits, high fives, insane screaming and an irritating showhost already has infected most TV competitions it must be possible to keep linguistic competitions civil and courteois AND fact-oriented. As language learners with yearlong projects we are hopefully too boring in the eyes of the childish program lords to get the usual treatment. Edited by Iversen on 29 June 2012 at 11:20am 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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